I'm still using TB 2.0.0.25pre and am happy about it. It's fast, has a small memory footprint and does all the things I need. I have tried various newer TB versions but found them slow (using lots of memory) and with too many features I don't need or use and with an UI I can't adjust (scale back) to my minimalistic liking.

What security risks do I run staying with this old version, if any? Thanks!

Last edited by CBA on December 28th, 2017, 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Too many potential security risks have been found and fixed to really answer that. However, the biggest risk is probably with certificate handling, and that the logic for secure connections using SSL/TLS has been overhauled several times due to security risks. SSL is not even supported anymore due to the poodle attack.

Your choices are not limited to what you are using or the latest version. You could choose a more recent version such as 3.1.20 (last update to 3.1). That's really old too, but would have less of the changes you object to. Its also a production release, unlike the build you are using. And it would let you use many more of the add-ons that are available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ or https://freeshell.de/~kaosmos/index-en.html

I would suggest minimum version 48. And as time goes on, to take tanstaaf'sl statement a bit further, more obsolete security protocols will be ended in newer server implimentations - i.e. more things will stop working on your older thunderbird or your will be insecure.

Thanks! Perhaps I'll try TB 3.1.20 Portable to see how it feels/looks. I gather 3.1.20 works well with POP3, as that is what I use exclusively on my computers. I have 40,000+ messages in my inbox (including archive sub folders) so IMAP is out of question. And, besides, I prefer to keep my mail on a local drive.

As for security protocols, I have 3 incoming mail servers, all configured to use SSL and Port 995. Two of the outgoing SMTP servers use TLS & 587 and the 3rd use SSL & 465. May not be the safest .. but it works okay. Regarding certificates, I copy the "cert8.db" file from my Firefox profile to the TB profile. Maybe of some help too .. but I'm not sure.

Last edited by CBA on December 30th, 2017, 7:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have tweaked 3.1.20 (portable) quite a bit, but, even with CompactHeader 1.4.0, the message header looks pretty bad (imo) compared to 2.0.0.25p! Is there another header tweaker add-on .. and if so what's the name (web-location)? Why on earth did the message header in 3.1.20 change that way? A mystery?!

And I need to get xSearchbarT2 0.5 (supposedly compatible with TB 3.1.*) up running, however, I can't get it to work. Any suggestions? Or, is there another message searchbar add-on that works along those same lines, i.e., search a folder based on subject, sender, recipient, body, etc.).

I have disabled Global Search & Indexer as I don't find it useful. And, I don't use the Quick Filter Bar, as I find this feature pretty useless and it takes up too much UI space.

And, is there a way to make the Edit Contact (in Address Book) pop-up box larger? I normally enter quite a bit of details under the Tab Other and would like to see it all. The Address Book itself can be resized any style, but not the Edit Contact box. In 2.00.25p this worked fine (resize) .. but now it's a silly issue!

I have 40,000+ messages in my inbox (including archive sub folders) so IMAP is out of question.

No offense but the logic of that escapes me. Most folks with that large a message store would opt for IMAP as being less at risk of losing data. It would not be necessary to leave all of those messages on the IMAP server either, as they could be copied or moved to sub-folders of Thunderbird's Local Folder structure. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Local_Folders This would disconnect them from the server so messages could be deleted on the server side without them being deleted locally. Nor would it be necessary to have all of the messages in the IMAP account folders synched to local storage. Unchecking the option to "Keep messages for this account on this computer" would mean that the user would have control of which messages were stored on the local system and which would be retained on the server. That process could be manual or could be automated using message filters. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Filters_%28Thunderbird%29

I don't use the Quick Filter Bar, as I find this feature pretty useless and it takes up too much UI space.

The Quick Filter Bar allows the user to "search a folder based on subject, sender, recipient, body, etc." without requiring an extension.

DanRaisch wrote:I have no idea. There have been too many releases since 3.1.20 came out in 2015 to even hazard a guess.

Well, okay then. As my query related to 3.1.20 (vs 2.0.0.25p) we now compare apples with oranges. I may check some newer versions, also portable, if I can't get 3.1.20 going to my liking. Maybe I'll get some more feedback...

Contrary what I said above, 3.1.20 also has Sender, Recipient, Subject, Body as search options. They become visible after the search variable has been entered. So, my bad .. for not researching the issue up front. Much later I also found this kb: